


to have a sister

by catmanu



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Siblings, Sisters, arya is in her weird poly relationship here that I used to crack headcanon, arya x aegon - Freeform, arya x gendry - Freeform, arya x jaqen, like if u cried every tiem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-27 16:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19016461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catmanu/pseuds/catmanu
Summary: After a few difficult years, Arya and Sansa rediscover what it's like to have each other.





	to have a sister

**Author's Note:**

> This is cheating! I wrote this like...4 and a half years ago and had it stuck in a drabble collection. But it's way too long to be in a drabble collection, so now it's a stand-alone fic as it deserves to be. Enjoy! <3

Staring at Arya over the small diner table, Sansa couldn’t believe how long it had been since she last saw her sister.  Ten years, she thought, and Arya agreed.  It had been ten years since Sansa had seen her, or spoken to her, but not a second of that time had gone by in which Arya had not been on Sansa’s mind.

It wasn’t like her disappearance was a mystery, or even a disappearance, really.  One day Arya had had enough and was just  _gone_.  She’d dropped out of high school and hopped on a plane to Berlin with her boyfriend Gendry and that was that.  She’d been in touch with Rickon, and Bran, and Jon, but no one told Sansa anything, and at first she was all right with that because of how mad she’d been and how envious she’d been.  Sansa could never do that, just pick up and leave when she couldn’t take a situation anymore.  She was the type of girl who stayed, wasn’t she?  It was her duty to stay.

And now they filled each other in, all the missing pieces of their ten years of being estranged sisters.  Looking at Arya, Sansa noticed a wiry toughness about her, and when Arya had taken off her black sweater, she’d pulled the neckline of the huge men’s tshirt she wore (clearly not  _hers_ , Sansa thought) to show her the wolf’s head tattooed between her shoulder blades. 

She’d been living in some performance art enclave in Berlin, dancing at their shows, bartending to make some money, and doing jeet kune do and krav maga.  Sansa hadn’t even heard of those.  Martial arts weren’t quite Sandor’s thing.  There were too many  _rules.  Are you and Gendry still together?_ Arya pulled out her phone to show Sansa pictures.  They were somehow still together, living in some sort of polyamorous  _thing_ with Aegon, who was a young, rich, English runaway with bright blue hair, and Jaqen, who’d defected from East to West Berlin in the 80s in some sort of crazy way, and held his red-and-white hair over his face in the photo because he didn’t like having his picture taken.  They’d all flown here with her yesterday, but only Gendry would be coming to the funeral.

And how was Sansa?  Well, Sansa didn’t know what to tell Arya.  About her independent boutique that was failing because Jeyne’s problems made her just too unreliable to work with.  About the engagement ring on her finger that still hadn’t turned into a wedding ring,  _still_ , because anytime she and Sandor sat down to plan, they’d run into trouble, and their couple’s therapist said they could make it but it would take  _work,_ and Sansa was so tired of all the years of  _work_ , and—

“I’m fine,” is what she told Arya.  “Everything’s great.  I’m engaged.”  She held up her ring.  Despite everything, every time she held the ring up to the sunlight its glittering reminded her of Sandor when he’d proposed, how he tried to be so gruff and played it so cool but had burst into tears when she’d said her happy  _yes_.

“Bran told me,” Arya said.  She emptied a sugar packet into her coffee, and then a second and then a third.  “He wants to know when the wedding is.  I said, why didn’t he just ask you?”

“That’s a lot of sugar,” Sansa said, simply because she didn’t know what to say back.  “It’s bad for your teeth, Arya.”

Arya stared at her before raising the cup to her lips.  When she’d put it back down, she said, “Everything’s really  _fine?_   Mom dying must be hard for you.”

“It is,” Sansa said, staring down into her cup of watery earl grey.  “I’m so sad but I feel like I have to feel  _guilty_ for being sad.  I—”

“You’re crazy,” said Arya, but she smiled when she said it, and she leaned in close.  “The way you feel about Mom is your business.  The things Mom did aren’t your fault.  I took care of it, y’know?  I showed her it wasn’t okay.  I guess Jon did too, in his own way.”

“I should have said something.  I shouldn’t have—I didn’t appreciate you enough.”

“But that was a long time ago.  We can’t do anything about it.”  Looking into Arya’s face, the one she’d made fun of with Jeyne so often when they were kids, Sansa realized how beautiful they were.  Both Stark sisters were beautiful.  It was silly, how important this was to her, but it gave her comfort.

“You’re right.  We can just change the future, I suppose.  And I’d like to.”  Sansa swallowed.  “I’d like you at my wedding.  You can bring all your boyfriends.  My sister and all her boyfriends.”

“Oh  _please,_ ” Arya said, grinning.  “You don’t want them all there, trust me.  Jaqen is kind of creepy and chain-smokes, and Aegon never shuts the fuck up.  And his blue hair won’t match your bridesmaids’ dresses.”

“So he’ll have to dye his hair to match them, you’ll have to make him.”  Sansa had started giggling.  She couldn’t stop.

“I totally forgot what a piece of work you are,” Arya said.  “Everyone thinks you’re so normal, but you’re totally  _weird_.”  Her eyes were sparkling.  That was the thing about her Stark grey eyes.  They could be severe, but they could be beautiful, too.

“Oh, Arya.  My life is totally making me weird.  My business is falling apart, my best friend has mental health problems I can’t fix, and Sandor and I haven’t made any progress on planning our wedding.  I’m so embarrassed. I didn’t want to tell you this.  Your life seems so _c_ _ool_ , and I—”

“Stop it.  You wouldn’t want my life.  When I was 19 Aegon and I got our nipples pierced on a stage in front of 30 artsy Germans.  For  _Art_.  It was a bad decision.”

“Ew!”

“Exactly.  See?  Your life might be hard right now, but it has the stuff you want in it. It’s gonna be okay.”  Arya took her hand and squeezed.  “It has me in it too, I think.  If you want.”

“Of course I want.”  Tears welled in Sansa’s eyes.  Arya’s eyes looked suddenly solemn.  “It’s hard not to have a sister.”

“You have a sister,” Arya said.  “You always did.”


End file.
